Graterford woman sues Chester County Prison in sex case

WEST CHESTER — A Chester County Prison inmate who had sex with a former correctional officer while incarcerated has filed a federal lawsuit against the officer, the county, and Warden Edward McFadden, contending the prison has a long-standing policy of ignoring such encounters.

In her suit, filed in October in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, the 37-year-old Graterford, Montgomery County, resident claims that she was forced into having “unwanted sex” with then-Cpl. Dale S. Guyer on two occasions while she was in the prison in 2010, and that as a result she suffered emotional and psychological trauma, and related physical injuries.

She is seeking more than $150,000 in damages for alleged violations of her civil rights.

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The woman, whose name is being withheld because of the nature of the charges against Guyer, said that officials at the prison, including McFadden, knew that Guyer had engaged in sexual intercourse with other female inmates, and that their “deliberate indifference” enabled Guyer’s behavior.

“There are other incidences of (sexual assault) at Chester County Prison by male correctional officers and ... McFadden and/or Chester County knew about those other incidences but failed to adequately train and supervise male correctional officers regarding the sexual assault of female … inmates,“ the complaint, filed in October by Philadelphia attorney Alan Denenberg, states.

Guyer, 49, of West Brandywine was arrested for his behavior with the woman in 2011 and last year pleaded guilty to charges of institutional sexual assault and harassment. He was sentenced to three years’ probation in December.

But the allegation that the woman was forced to have sex with Guyer contradicts the version of events presented by the prosecution in its case against Guyer. In the criminal complaint charging Guyer, Chester County Detective Robert Dougherty, the lead investigator in the matter, stated specifically that the woman told him the two encounters she had with Guyer were consensual.

In a response to the lawsuit, West Chester attorney Guy Donatelli of the firm of Lamb McErlane, representing the county and McFadden, said the woman was a “willing participant” in the contact with Guyer, and that she had actually engaged in efforts to conceal having sex with him from prison officials and police investigators. He also referenced a letter the woman sent to a fellow inmate after her release in which she bragged about having sex with the guard.

“Needless to say, we had a GREAT time together and who knows what the future holds,” the woman allegedly wrote. “I’ll probably soon be saying ‘it was fun while it lasted.’ ”

Additionally, the county’s response cites training manuals that forbid unprofessional conduct toward inmates. “Entering a personal and/or sexual relationship with inmates of any correctional institution is prohibited,” the filing quotes the prison’s Professional and Ethics for Correctional Staff publication as stating.

Donatelli on Thursday declined to comment on the lawsuit because the litigation is pending. Denenberg could not be reached for comment. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge William Yohn.

The woman was discharged from the prison in December 2010, and later wrote a letter to a fellow inmate she had befriended in which she spoke of the sex with Guyer. The other inmate, Yvonne Westmoreland, brought the letter to the attention of prison officials after receiving it, and later told Dougherty that she was upset that the woman seemed proud of the fact that she was “getting away with having sex with Guyer.”

Guyer was dismissed from the prison staff in January 2011 for unrelated violations of prison policy. He was charged with institutional sexual assault and harassment in July 2011.

In her lawsuit, the woman contends that she was not alone in being forced by officers at the prison to have sex. Her complaint alleges that McFadden and the county “has adopted and maintained for many years a recognized and accepted policy, custom, and practice of condoning and/or the acquiescence of unwanted sexual intercourse between its male correctional officers … and female inmates.”

She says that McFadden should have known of the policy and taken steps to stop it.

The complaint, however, does not mention any specific instances of such conduct, nor cite any actual written policy, and in its answer to the lawsuit the county denied any such policy or practice was in place.

The woman’s behavior after her release was called into question by West Chester attorney Joseph P. Green Jr., who represented Guyer in the criminal case. In a pre-sentencing memo to Common Pleas Judge David Bortner, Green said her allegations are evidence of her “true intent … to get over on Dale Guyer and the Chester County Prison system.”

Green said the woman had continued her relationship with Guyer, who was married, after her release from the prison.

The woman is currently back in prison, awaiting a Jan. 23 hearing on a probation violation complaint.